Slave To The Employer?

I was reading a blog about blogging and the writer talked about being a slave to our employers.

At first I scoffed at this concept.

Slaves would mean we are owned by our employers and are treated as property to be bought and sold. Besides not feeling that that is the case, I thought we also get paid. So why did they use the term “slave”?

Then I started to think about what they said. I thought about how precious is time, what a priceless commodity it is and it can’t be manufactured, or mined, or created.

I thought how cheaply we sell our time to our employers.

Years ago when I was young and I thought I had a ton of time, being paid a wage for my time seemed pretty fair especially when I wasn’t giving the employer all I had during that time. That was back when a job was just a job.

We’ve all done it at one job or another, given just enough to keep our jobs but our heart is just not in to it.

As I get older I see my pile of time dwindling and the value of each hour skyrockets.

There really isn’t a dollar value you can place on each hour that justifies you giving that hour to someone else. You realize that you spent years taking a big chunk of your time pile and gave it to someone else who really doesn’t care about your pile.

That’s how I saw my slavery to the employer.

You allow them to put a price, a low price, on your time and the older you get the more you realize just how low of a price it is.

You allow them to dictate where you will be at what time and what you will do at that time. You do this to survive. You think you’re doing it to get ahead but you’re doing it just to get by.

It’s the easy way, or so it starts out that way. But as the years go by it becomes harder and harder.

Each day report to the task master, get you assignment and perform your task to their satisfaction.

Being your own boss starts out very hard, very scary and not as secure as having a master to provide you with just enough to be comfortable and survive.

You need to be your own master, set your own high standards, achieve them and then raise the bar again. That way you build something successful for yourself, work when you want, do what you want and do what excites you.

If it excites you, you love it and you are passionate about it you’ll want to do it all the time.

That way you get the most value for your priceless and limited commodity, time.

Or would you prefer that almost forty percent or more of that commodity is spent doing what someone else wants you to do so they can do what they want to do?

What’s the price, ten, twenty, fifty or one hundred dollars per hour?

It’s not too late for me to break out and start doing what I want. At least I was smart enough and disciplined enough to save some of my wages to soon be able to buy my freedom just like the slaves of ancient Rome.